Improved railroad-switch



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

ALBERT WATSON AND GEORGE W. MILLER, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASS.

IMPROVED RAILROAD-SWITCH.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 50,972, dated November 14, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ALBERT WATSON and GEORGE W. MILLER, of Springiield,Hampden county, Com monwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railroad-Switches; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact deseription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan view ot' lny improvement; Fio. 2, a horizontal crosssection; Fig. 3, a side View, and Fig. et a vcrtical erosssection. Figs. 5, 6, 7 8 represent the wrenches or keys used with this invention.

Ourimprovementeonsistsin an arran gement by which the switch can be locked in one position,from whichit cannot be removed by careless or malicious persons, or, in fact, by any one not in possession of the keys. Its construction and operation we will now describe.

1n construction it consists mota block, A. On the top of this block I place the sliding chair B. 1n this sliding chair and the mechanism for moving and holding it consists our invention. The moving mechanism consists of a pinion, C, working in a rack on the under side of the piece B. This pinion is fastened to the shaft D, which is turned by a wrench ap plied at E. Through the inside of this shaft D runs another, F. On the inside end ot' this is a cam, G, which operates the. spring L, so that when the shaft F is turned the pin Hmay be pulled downward out from the slide B,thus leaving it free to move.

The operation of this arrangementis simply to place the switch in the desired position, and

then, by means of wrenches applied to the ends ofthe two shafts at E, slide the piece B onto the end ofthe rail. This piece being slid onto the end ofthe rail completely locks it in position.

The advantages of this arrangement are obvious, for we are able to completely lock the rail in its required position, and the wrenches being taken oft' and carried away there is no possibility of its being opened, andthe nuts or vheads on the ends of the shafts at E areplaced far enough into the block A to render it impossible for it to be opened with any other instrument than the proper wrenches. It is simple and compact, and consequently can be applied with but little cost.

Now, having described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is

1. The sliding pieceB, when used in combination with a chair, A, and the rails m m m", substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

2. The. combination of the shaft D and pin ion O with the block A and slide B, substau tially in the manner and for the purpose described.

3. The combination of the shaft F, cam G, pin H with the block A and slide B, substait tially in the manner and for the purpose described.

ALBERT WATSON. GEORGE W. MILLER.

Witnesses:

J. B. GARDINER, L. H. MAGOTT. 

